Ending Violence Against Migrants

Migration has become a central governance issue with the demonstrated capacity to disrupt or shape public policies at local, national or regional levels. The project Ending Violence Against Migrants (EVAM) was born from the observation that despite numerous initiatives trying to cope with migrations, contributors often ended up in a stalemate where human rights defenders opposed and criticised policies developed to keep migrants away. These efforts to challenge and improve existing policies and practices are needed but not enough. What we need are concrete initiatives that can bring some immediate relief now. The EVAM initiative proposes to look into migration issues through a new lens, the one of violence in its various forms, making the assumption that many, if not all, can agree that there is a global interest to reduce harm and suffering. EVAM has now entered its pilot phase with studies and projects circumscribed to a sector and/or limited geographical area. The project is taking advantage of the strong engagement of MDM teams and partners at field level, in Mali, Niger, Tunisia, Morocco, Syria, Greece, Croatia, and Belgium to ground itself into the daily realities of migrants.